Working papers, literature reviews, and research notes published by TFRi. New publications are added as research is completed and reviewed. For curated collections organized by research area, see the Research Archive.
Tin appears at disproportionate rates in Etruscan temple deposits. Bronze was available. Iron was available. Gold was available. The Etruscans chose tin for their offerings to the gods, and the archaeological literature has not fully explained why.
Herodotus — a man who traveled from Egypt to Scythia documenting everything — admitted he could not determine where the Tin Islands were. Strabo records a Phoenician captain who sank his own ship rather than let Rome follow him to the source. Tin was worth more than disclosure.
Four thousand years. Every continent. Dozens of unconnected cultures. One consistent countermeasure: reflective metal between yourself and the source. The evil eye tradition is the longest-running field experiment in directed influence and material shielding.
Every metalworking culture put metal on the head first. Not the chest. Not the hands. The head. The archaeological record is unambiguous and TFRi finds the consistency worth examining.
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